1. Field
The present disclosure relates to electrowetting display apparatuses and methods of driving the same.
A. 2. Description of the Related Art
A phenomenon in which a shape of liquid droplets is changed when a voltage is applied to liquid droplets is referred to as electrowetting. Using this electrowetting phenomenon, for example, there have been developed electrowetting lenses capable of electrically changing a focus length or electrowetting scanners capable of electrically changing a refraction angle of the lens.
An electrowetting display apparatuses makes use of the electrowetting phenomenon. Electrowetting display apparatuses have a structure in which oil colored by one of red, green, blue, and black for each pixel is arranged on a hydrophobic insulating film. In such electrowetting display apparatuses, a hydrophobic insulating film (e.g., an insulation film that resists mixture with water) is changed into a hydrophilic insulating film (e.g., an insulation film that is soluble with water), thereby collecting the oil in one side when voltages are applied to respective pixels and the oil evenly spread out when voltages are not applied.
If a white reflective plate is disposed on a rear surface of an electrowetting display apparatus, a pixel is tinged with white when applying a voltage that causes the oil to collect is applied thereto. In contrast, a pixel is tinged with a color of the colored oil when a voltage is not applied.
Also, electrowetting display apparatuses may be manufactured as a transmissive type using a backlight unit to produce light and also as a reflective type using external light. Reflective electrowetting display apparatuses may have excellent visibility in the open air where sunlight is strong, may consume a small amount of power, and may have excellent color saturation of natural colors because of coloring oil by using dyes. Accordingly, electrowetting display apparatuses can be applied to flexible electronic paper.